Chapter 66 The Truth Between Us
Isabella — POV
“I never wanted you to find out like this.”
His voice sounded hollow.
Broken.
But the words only made something inside me snap.
I stared at him through blurred tears, my chest rising and falling so fast it hurt.
“Really?”
My voice trembled with anger.
“Then how exactly did you plan for me to find out?”
Alexander flinched slightly.
“How?” I demanded.
“When?”
“Where?”
My voice grew louder with every question.
“Were you ever planning to tell me?”
The warehouse echoed with the sound of my voice.
“How could you keep something like this from me?” I cried.
“How could you look at me every day… and not tell me this?”
My throat burned.
Tears streamed down my face, but I didn’t even try to stop them.
“I hate you.”
The words left my mouth before I could stop them.
“I hate you so much, Alexander.”
His face looked like I had just stabbed him in the chest.
But I couldn’t stop.
My mind was spiraling.
I shook my head over and over.
“I can’t believe this…”
My voice dropped into a whisper.
“I can’t believe I slept next to you.”
My chest tightened painfully.
“I can’t believe I loved the man who ruined my life.”
The words tore through the warehouse.
“The man who took my father from me.”
My voice cracked.
“Why?”
I looked straight at him.
“Why did you kill him?”
Alexander didn’t answer right away.
My hands trembled against the ropes.
“He would have helped you,” I said desperately. “He could have stopped the other men.”
Alexander finally lifted his eyes to mine.
And what I saw there wasn’t anger.
It was grief.
“Your father isn’t the man you think he is.”
The words hit me like a slap.
My head jerked slightly.
“What?”
Alexander’s voice remained quiet.
“He was involved in things you don’t know about.”
My anger flared instantly.
“Oh, now you’re going to start talking bad about my father?”
My voice rose again.
“Now that he’s dead and can’t defend himself?”
Alexander shook his head slightly.
“I’m not accusing him,” he said quietly.
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“My father was not involved in kidnapping you!” I shouted.
“He had nothing to do with you!”
My heart pounded violently in my chest.
“He didn’t even control that warehouse!”
Alexander’s brows pulled together.
“He owned it.”
“Yes!” I cried. “But he didn’t run it!”
My voice broke again.
“You don’t understand!”
I shook my head, tears spilling down my cheeks.
“The men who were actually running things there took it from him!”
Alexander went still.
“They forced him,” I said through shaky breaths. “They used his warehouse without permission.”
“They didn’t ask him.”
“They threatened him.”
My chest heaved.
“He was fighting them,” I said desperately. “He was trying to get out.”
I remembered that night again.
My father’s face.
The way he had looked at me.
“He was going to leave,” I whispered.
Alexander’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“He told me,” I said, my voice trembling. “That night he told me everything was about to change.”
“He was going to walk away.”
I swallowed hard.
“He was going to take my mom and me and leave everything behind.”
My voice cracked again.
“That was his plan.”
Silence fell across the warehouse.
“He would never have hurt you,” I said softly.
“He never hurt anyone.”
Alexander closed his eyes briefly.
Then opened them again.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
My stomach twisted.
“I know you loved him.”
The words felt like knives.
“But there’s more to this than what he told you.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Alexander continued anyway.
“He knew I was there.”
My breathing stopped.
“He came to the containers.”
Once.
Twice.
“Several times.”
My heart pounded.
“He knew I was being held there.”
My voice came out weak.
“That’s not true.”
Alexander’s gaze stayed locked on mine.
“I was in that container for months.”
The warehouse felt suddenly colder.
“Your father saw me.”
My chest tightened painfully.
“And he walked away.”
I shook my head again.
“No…”
Alexander’s voice dropped.
“I’m sorry.”
“But he wasn’t just some innocent man caught in the middle.”
His jaw tightened.
“He was part of the group that held me hostage.”
And suddenly the war between memory and truth inside my head became impossible to untangle.